HM: Why is train safety still an issue despite the ongoing educational programs?

DW: My view is that there are two types of people, one that wants to do the right thing and so it's simply awareness and education so that they understand the consequences if they do end up getting hit by a train. Then there are the others who flout the law and they're the ones that, dare I say, we deal with through the police with the big stick approach because that's the only sort of thing they understand.

I think the campaign that we are talking about though with engagement is that there might be some stuff that we are doing wrong that we can fix, it may well be that the lights go on for too long before the train approaches and that invites people to go through, we just think it's yet another way to try to improve the situation.

TasRail has put new measures in place to ensure rail safety but the statistics have not been reduced, why do you think this is?

I can't help but think that the whole issue with the horns and the noises may well have had a negative impact, in that despite [of the horns] people were still going through to sort of prove a point. We've got Rail Safety Week next week, but we need to work out how to maintain that level of awareness throughout the year and I think it's through true community engagement and doing the school education programs and those types of things.

What is the effect of these incidents on the train drivers?

They are significant trauma events for our drivers. I know drivers going through towns like Ulverstone and Devonport will literally be on the edge of their seat because they don't know what is going to happen. We've had drivers that just don't come back to work because they've experienced a series of traumatic events that they just don't recover from.

Why do people treat red flashing lights at a railway crossing different to a red traffic light?

We've thought long and hard about that and historically I don't think there have been many trains in Tasmania. They have run slower and we will be progressively increasing the speed of our trains. Historically they also haven't run on time, so the respect for the railway wasn't there and we need to change that so that people understand that the railway is an important part of economic infrastructure for the state.